U.S. Senate throws Minnesota’s hemp-based THC drinks and gummies industry a lifeline

WASHINGTON – Minnesota’s robust industry of intoxicating drinks and edibles made from THC in hemp got a reprieve late Monday from a looming federal ban on those products.

The reprieve was included in a bill the U.S. Senate passed on a procedural vote. It allows consideration of a short-term bill that would fund the federal government until Dec. 11 and would also delay the implementation of new federal regulation on intoxicating hemp products.

The new regulations would cripple Minnesota manufacturers of intoxicating gummies, drinks and even many products containing Cannabidiol (CBD) that are marketed as having health benefits.

The new regulations were to go into effect Nov. 11. While the Senate bill, which is expected to win final approval later this week, would only provide a month’s worth of respite, the intoxicating hemp industry and its allies in Congress hailed the reprieve.

“Adults should be allowed to have a THC beverage if they so choose. Minnesota has created one of the strongest, most carefully regulated systems in the country to allow the sale of hemp products,” Sen. Tina Smith said in a statement. “The initial ban set to take place was ill-advised and would have hurt both hemp farmers and Minnesota breweries alike.”

Since Minnesota legalized low-potency hemp-derived THC edibles and beverages in 2022 for adults 21 and older, the state has been a pioneer in this industry.  

Advocates for the hemp industry said it would give them more time to lobby for support of legislation that would blunt the impact of the intoxicating hemp ban. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Rep. Angie Craig, D-2^nd District, have introduced bills that would regulate intoxicating hemp products instead of eliminating them.

“The new government funding bill in the Senate includes a key provision based on my bipartisan bill to delay the federal hemp ban … so other states can put more sensible safety rules in place like we have in Minnesota,” Klobuchar said. “This delay was immediately necessary to give Minnesota hemp producers and customers certainty, while giving Congress more time to get to a long-term fix.”

Another boon to the hemp industry is that the Senate bill, called a continuing resolution, or CR, has placed the issue in a federal spending bill, which is likely to be renewed since Congress has been unable to win final approval for any of the appropriations bills that would fund the federal government.

“This industry lobbied for its life — and moved the line,” said a release from MC Nutraceuticals, a maker of hemp-based products in Colorado.

Last November, Congress outlawed hemp-infused edibles — including drinks, gummies and even some CBD products containing more than 0.4 milligrams of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

That ban was contained in a massive spending bill to fund the federal government, and gave the industry a year to adjust to the restrictions.

However, President Donald Trump has voiced concerns over how the restrictions would impact a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services pilot program that would allow the use of CBD to fight certain illnesses. If the pilot program succeeds, these products could eventually be covered under Medicare.

The marijuana lobby, which has sought to put intoxicating hemp products on the same playing field as pot, which continues to be illegal on the federal level, decried the Senate’s action on Monday.

“Now, we face the scenario where every time we’re going to have a fight over which cannabis derived products are illegal,” said Cory Harris, a lobbyist for the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp (ATACH.)

Harris also said that under the legislation proposed by Klobuchar, who is running for governor, and Craig, who is running for the Senate, states that don’t allow hemp-derived THC products would not be able to keep them out because customers in those states would continue to be able to purchase them online.

Craig, however, said regulation of the hemp industry has worked well in Minnesota.

“Minnesota led the charge on regulating legal hemp in a thoughtful and safe way, and now the federal government wants to pull the rug out from under them, putting thousands of Minnesotans out of work,” she said. “That is unacceptable, and it is also bad policy.”

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